PHYSIOLOGICAL BOTANY. 243 



Scitaminese is singular enough. The granules are cylin- 

 drical, and either curved or bent at an angle ; they are 

 sometimes club-shaped, or of various other forms, some 

 of which resemble a pileate Fungus, and in consequence 

 of their being contracted between the rings, they distinctly 

 exhibit their laminated or tunicated structure, each main- 

 ring again exhibiting a larger or smaller number of ex- 

 ceedingly delicate, parallel, curved, transverse markings. 

 The larger segments undoubtedly denote the separate 

 granules of the composite structure, and each of these is 

 again finely laminated. 



On the Starch of Gloriosa Superba, L. By JULIUS 

 HUNTER. Bot. Zeit., 1845, p. 193. The form of the 

 granules of starch which exist in the rhizome of this plant, 

 is sometimes that of a perfect sphere or ellipse ; but by 

 far the larger number of granules are bounded by one or 

 more plane surfaces, which sometimes meet at an acute, 

 sometimes at a right angle. If we divide an egg, says 

 the author, through its middle, at right angles to its 

 long axis, we obtain two kettledrum-shaped halves, these 

 accurately represent, on a large scale, the appearance 

 frequently exhibited by the starch of Gloriosa. Other 

 pieces resemble that form which we should obtain on 

 dividing an egg anywhere parallel to its longitudinal axis; 

 other forms again represent sections of a sphere, i. e. 

 pieces which are bounded by two plane surfaces inter- 

 secting each other at an angle of 120 and one spherical 

 surface. Sometimes we find three plane and one spherical 

 surface ; and lastly, we have also pure stereometric forms, 

 pentahedra, hexahedra, and octahedra. Occasionally the 

 granules are of an indefinite form, which does not admit 

 of description. Maranta bicolor Kerr, and Jatropha 

 manihot, also exhibit pentahedral granules of starch. The 

 author brings these forward as a proof that even an or- 

 ganic compound may assume a crystalline form, and from 

 this consideration he applies to them the term glandules. 

 It is then found that these glandules become disintegrated 

 when removed from the cell and placed in water, upon 



